Best-Selling Author Tara Westover to Address ACE2019
December 05, 2018

Author Tara Westover will discuss her best-selling memoir Educated and the transformative power of education during the ACE2019 Monday Luncheon Plenary. 

The daughter of survivalist, fundamentalist parents, Westover grew up in Idaho and didn’t set foot in a classroom for the first time until age 17. She pursued education for the next decade, graduating magna cum laude from Brigham Young University (UT) in 2008, and then earning an MPhil from Trinity College, Cambridge, and a position as a visiting fellow at Harvard University (MA) before returning to Trinity College, where she was awarded a PhD in history in 2014.

Calling it a “book that testifies to an irrepressible thirst to learn,” The New York Times has named Educated one of the 10 best books of 2018.

This is just one of the thought-provoking sessions planned for ACE2019, ACE’s 101st Annual Meeting, March 9-12 in Philadelphia. Nearly 2,000 college and university leaders from deans to presidents will gather at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown to gain knowledge about practical solutions for many of the challenges higher education faces today, network with leaders from across all institutional types, and be inspired by the achievements of colleagues and the insights of a diverse slate of speakers. 

Among the concurrent sessions will be, “What Keeps You Up at Night: Inside Higher Ed's 2019 Survey of Presidents.” Doug Lederman, Inside Higher Ed editor and co-founder, will present the survey’s findings and discuss issues such as the Harvard University case and its implications for race-conscious admissions, the new landscape in Washington, with a divided Congress and an unpredictable executive branch, and campus finances in a turbulent time. 

Joining Lederman will be a panel of prominent campus leaders to discuss the survey’s results and the implications for their colleagues and higher education: Ronald A. Crutcher, president of the University of Richmond (VA); Mary A. Papazian, president of San Jose State University (CA); and Luis Pedraja, president, Quinsigamond Community College (MA).

ACE2019 will begin Saturday, March 9, at 5 p.m., with the International Welcome and Networking Reception. Other events that evening include the ACE Women’s Leadership Dinner (tickets required) and a reception for presidents and chancellors.

Sunday morning will feature two sessions just for presidents and chancellors, as well as concurrent sessions open to all attendees. A new Sunday Luncheon Plenary will take place that day ahead of the 5 p.m. Robert H. Atwell Plenary address, named by the ACE Board of Directors for the former ACE president who served from 1984 to 1996.

Click here to visit the ACE2019 website for more information and to register. 

Join the conversation on Twitter at #ACE2019Philly.